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Malaysia’s Najib drops appeal to serve 1MDB-linked prison sentence under house arrest

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has dropped his legal bid to serve the remainder of his corruption sentence under house arrest, closing off a…

By Samantha Johnson / April 27, 2026
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has dropped his legal bid to serve the remainder of his corruption sentence under house arrest, closing off a closely watched appeal tied to his 2024 royal pardon.

Najib, 72, is serving a six-year jail sentence in Kajang Prison after his original 12-year term for the misappropriation of 42 million ringgit (US$10.6 million) from SRC International was halved by the Pardons Board in 2024.

SRC International was formerly a unit of 1MDB, the state fund at the centre of a global corruption scandal that helped bring down Najib’s government in 2018.

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The house-arrest dispute centred on Najib’s claim that an “addendum order” issued alongside his sentence reduction had allowed him to serve the rest of his jail term at home – an assertion that has fuelled debate in Malaysia over royal pardons, executive accountability and whether the former leader was receiving preferential treatment.

According to court documents, lawyers from Shafee & Co informed the Court of Appeal on April 3 that Najib had filed a notice of discontinuance for the appeal.

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The notice, dated April 2, said Najib had decided not to pursue his appeal for house arrest, giving no reason for the withdrawal.

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